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ETOWAH VALLEY HI8TOQICAL 80CIETY

~~ September/October 1994 P.O. Box 1886, Cartersville, Georgia 30120

CARTERSVILLE CANDLELIGHT CHRISTMAS "Historic Tour of Homes"

This event will be held Saturday, December 10th, 1994. WRITE THIS DATE DOWN NOW! The tour, sponsored by your Society, will feature five homes, the old Bartow County Courthouse, the Cartersville First Presbyterian Church and the Episcopal Church of the A.scension. All structures are located on ei­ther Cherokee A venue or West Main Street. The five homes include the Benton Home, the !rich-Ascension Home, Roselawn, the Strickland-Thacker Home "Grand Oaks" and the Dobson Home.

Tickets will be $7.00 each and will be

available at the Cartersville-Bartow County Tourism Office and at the Etowah Valley Historical Society Office in the old Courthouse. Society members will be noti­fied when tickets go on sale. Daytime tours will be from 1 to 4 pm and night tours by candlelight will be from 6

to 9 pm. Volunteers are still needed for the various

jobs necessary to put on a successful event. Contact any member of the Preservation Com­mittee; Diane Tate, Emily Champion, Susan Alexander, Carolyn Parmenter, Lizette Entwisle, Lynn Henderson, or Laurette Smith.

"THE LAST OF THE PIONEERS" Editor's note: This article was reprinted with the

permission of The Bartow Herald, and was originally printed in their September 16, 193 7 edition. This excel­lent article was written by Callie Jackson.

"The last of the pioneers" may truly be said of the late Mrs. T. S. Hawkins ofStilesboro, Georgia, for she was the last of the many settlers who migrated by way of the covered wagon to Cass (now Bartow) County in he period between 1830 and the early 50's. She recently

iJassed away at the age of 89 in the plantation home where she came as a bride 64 years ago.

Mrs. Hawkins was little five year old Sue McCormick when she made the long trek from Abbeville District, South Carolina, to North Georgia; but the hap­penings of that three week's journey, like many other stirring events of her life, were painted in unfading colors in the picture gallery of her mind.

Charles and Fannie Sproull, her grandparents, were among the firstto scentthe tang ofanew-cutroad, which led into this section ofNorth Georgia. Finding the land fertile and the climate healthful they urged their married children, whom they had left behind in South Carolina, to sell their possessions and come with them to this "garden spot" among the hills.

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"The Last of The Pioneers" Continued

Move to Georgia

So Elihu Sproull, and his wife, his sister, Malinda and her husband, Isaiah McCormick, finally yielded to the entreaties of their parents. Selling their lands and herding their cattle and live stock, they loaded their · household goods onto wagons and with their children and their slaves began the exodus to this land, which, if not flowing with the proverbial "milk and honey," prom­ised health and prosperity. They were three weeks making the trip.

Added to their own households were a number of slaves whose late master had willed them to a relative of his and the Sproulls-residing in North Georgia. So the McCormicks and the Sproulls obligingly allowed the owner who had been sent to South Carolina for the bondsmen and women, to make the return trip with them. All together, they made quite a caravan.

by the cool shade on the University campus they asked permission to stop there.

"Sassy" Aunt Jen

They were soon discovered by a number of the stu­dents, who came out to learn what it was all about. They inquired of the slaves if the president of the University had given them permission to stop on the campus. And "Aunt Jen", who was inclined to be "sassy", informed them that regardless of what the "President of the Col­lege of the Knowledge" might say they would eat dinner right there. It was the duty of the slave women to drive and look after the cattle on the trip. But while they were busy about dinner that day one of the milk cows broke loose, and curling her tail high over her back in a wide, sweeping farewell wave, she headed straight for South Carolina, and home. It took a good portion of the stu­dent body and several dogs running interference to round up homesick Bossy.

Another exciting incident on the journey was the crossing of the Savannah River on a ferry boat. Just as

As was the custom of many traveling pioneers they camped at night along the way instead of stopping at inns. There was a tent for the men and one for the women, the slaves being likewise segregated. A part of one of these tents is in the McCormick family today, cherished they reached midstream some of the young calves,........ _ _

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Youngster's Holiday

Whatever hardships may have been the lot of the grown-ups on this journey it was one grand holiday for the youngsters. The five McCormick children, includ­ing little Sue, and their seven young cousins all rode together in a covered wagon with a driver and Mrs. McCormick's "Black Mammy" nurse, Charlotte. The latter was kept pretty busy retrieving bonnets and caps surreptitiously dropped overboard by her mischievous young charges, as the wagon wheels slowly rolled along.

Small Sue and one of the young Sproulls were suf­fering from chills and fever at that time, each having a chill every other day, but not on the same day. And on each little girl's "chill day" she had to ride in the one barouche in the caravan, with her mother. And did she regret missing the ride in the wagon on those days!

This occurred long before the advent of the paper poke and the can opener, so on this journey all the food was cooked over a campfire as needed. And the travel­ers reached Athens, Georgia at the time of morning when they always stopped to prepare dinner. Being attracted

afterthem. Whatwithlowingofthecattleandthescream-ing of the frightened children pandemonium broke loose.

Settle at Euharlee

Isaiah McCormick bought land and with his family settled on the banks of Euharlee Creek, two miles west ofStilesboro. The children attended school atthis town, and Sue was a little girl with "pigtails" when they moved from the old school house into the new Stilesboro Acad­emy which was erected in 1859-seventy eight years ago.

Twin sons, "Johnnie and Tommie", were born to the McCormicks sometime after they moved to Georgia, and the rescuing of the former from drowning by Sue, when she was a slip of a girl, was the most thrilling experience of a young life.

Hearing the terrified screams of her young brothers who had been allowed to go "in washing" in the nearby creek, she ran as fast as her swift feet could carry her, stripping offher dress as she went, and plunged into water fifteen feet deep, where the child was sinking for the thirc time. This heroine was still an excellent swimmer at the age of 75, the last time she was allowed to try her skill.

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"The Last of The Pioneers" Continued

War Between the States

This young girl's first real impression of the War Between the States was in 1862, when she went with a number of women to a point on the Alabama Road where they sang, as a regiment of soldiers passed by on their way to war. She was fifteen then.

The following years became crowded with events, one of which she never forgot. A woman spy was ar­rested at the Stilesboro post office, where she had rid­den for some distance on horse back to post letters con­taining information for the enemy. Her captors took her to the McCormick home for the night's lodging. As the spy's saddle and blanket were the finest, she requested that they be brought into her room for the night-osten­sibly to take care of them. The sentry on duty evidently snitched a wink or two of sleep, for the next morning spy, saddle, blanket and horse were gone. They tracked her bare feet to the creek where she made a safe get-away.

But the coming of the Federal army, when the whole face of the earth was covered with "blue coats" and the earth all but trembled with the rhythm of their marching feet, the subsequent destruction, poverty, even hunger,­that was her culminating lesson in war. The path of the invading army was swept so clean of food that once she walked to Kingston, a distance of twelve miles for a piece of meat.

The years following this war were busy ones for Miss Sue McCormick, the young lady, for she was learning the art of home making.

So it was with confidence and assurance that she walked into the home of her young husband, Thaddeus S. Hawkins, on March 13th, 1873 to assume the role of mistress. She could spin thread, weave it into cloth and then cut and fashion a suit of clothes for her husband with the skill of a professional tailor. As long as she lived she could sew a fine seam. On her 60th wedding anniversary she began a patchwork quilt of intricate patterns, which she finished and gave to her youngest granddaughter. And she was known for her excellent cooking, being especially adept at baking and emboss­ing cakes. Frequently she was called upon to decorate wedding cakes for her friends.

This home to which Mrs. Hawkins came as a bride, is one of interest. Situated at the end of a lane leading off from historic Burnt Hickory Road, over which

Sherman's army passed on its way to Atlanta, it over­looks a portion of Raccoon Creek valley that was once the site of a Cherokee Indian village. Many Indian rel­ics have been found near the premises, some of which were bought for the Smithsonian Institute and others sent to the state capitol.

The house, a two-story building, which was erected by Mr. Hawkins' fath~ in 1848, is quaint in appearance and is surrounded by ancient trees, boxwood and other old shrubbery.

Many guests have been entertained in this home, Mr.

"Wildwood", as seen today on Hawkins Road. Built 1848. Now the home of Mr. & Mrs. Clyde Brook.

Hawkins having been a member of the Stilesboro Farm­ers' Club all the years that it functioned. This club-the third oldest of its kind in the United States-was com­posed of from twelveto fifteenmembers, anditmetonce a month at the home of a member. The families of these men were honorary members, and as many as seventy five guests would be entertained at a seated mid-day meal of two or three courses. Mrs. Hawkins' skill in the culinary art stood her in good stead at such times. For she, with the help of the family, prepared all the food and served it.

Mother of Ten Children

This versatile woman was the mother of ten children, three of whom died in infancy, and one was stricken in the flower of young manhood and died in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her other children are Mrs. A. R. Davis, of Taylorsville; Mrs. R. L. Jackson, Misses Bessie and Campie Hawkins, Stilesboro; Mr. C. B. Hawkins, West Point, and Dr. T. I. Hawkins of Griffin. The first mem­ber of the fifth generation of Mrs. Hawkins' family was bomearlythisyear, whichmadeheragreat-great-grand­mother.

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"The Last of The Pioneers" Continued

Despite her advanced years Mrs. Hawkins was in­terested in every phase of community life. She was a devoted member of Raccoon Creek Baptist Church; faithful to the Stilesboro Improvement Club, having grown prize chrysanthemums for the annual show every year for the past 25 years; and regularly cast her ballot in every election as long as she was able to go to the polls.

Mrs. Hawkins witnessed many changes during the span of her long life. A granddaughter recently came by

airplane from Fresno, California, on a visit-afar cry from the covered wagon.

In the last few weeks of her life Mrs. Hawkins' mind revertecito childhood days and the people who lived then. It was a:Sthough ·she were renewing her acquaintance with them{n preparation for the everlasting reunion she was so soon to experience.

Submitted by DiAnne Smith Monroe

MEMBERSHIP MEETING October 1, 1994

It was under the dome in the courtroom of the Bartow County Courthouse that the EVHS held its annual meet­ing October 1, 1994. The Courthouse is an historical landmark built in 1903. Before the meeting members browsed through the rooms EVHS now occupies as office space.

Larry Gregory, President, opened the meeting by welcomingmembers-and guests. Biarre-Mmmey, Nomi­nating Committee Chairperson, nominated Patricia

Simmons to serve on the Board, filling the expired term ofMichelle Rodgers. There being no other nominations submitted, members approved the nomination by a show of hands.

Larry reviewed the many projects EVHS has had the past year: the Cemetery Book was published and is now available for purchase; the Log Cabin donated by Sherlin Vaughan was moved to Red Top Mountain State Park and is being reassembled; plans are underway to open

Judge Jere White addressing the society.

Allatoona Pass with trails and signs; several new Cross­roads programs have been taped; Joe Mahan's book A History of Old Cassville was reprinted and book sign­ing receptions held; EVHS hosted the Civil War Com­mission at Red Top Mountain, including a tour of sev­eral Bartow County homes.

J.B. Tate told of the project he is presently working on, acquiring books about Bartow County and books that have been written by authors from Bartow County. He estimates that there are about 120 books in all. These books will be placed in the rooms EVHS has in the Court­house. Guy Parmenter reported on the Crossroads pro­grams. A new program "The Great Locomotive Chase in Bartow County" will be featured Wednesday night on Channel 4. Guy also acknowledged and thanked all Board Members and Officers from the past year.

Dianne Tate, Preservation Committee Chairperson, thanked Steve Bradley and Clarence Brown for their help

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Membership Meeting Continued

in obtaining some of the original furniture and having it placed in the new EVHS of­fice in the Court­house. She also thanked Dorothy Roth for the donation of the Lucy Cunyus collection, Woodrow Brandley and Joe Mahan. Guy Parmenter, Larry Gregory and David

Gregory were thanked for their volunteer work in get­ting the rooms in the Courthouse ready for our annual meeting.She thanked Jodeen Brown for the painting of the Cassville Female College that hangs in the Court­house. Office and for the sketching of the Courthouse that will be printed on the tour guides and posters for the December 10th Tour of Homes. Dianne also thanked Preservation Committee members Emily Champion,

Lizette Entwisle, Carolyn Parmenter, Laurette Smith, Susan Alexander and Lynn Henderson.

Carolyn Parmenter introduced Jerry White, the speaker for the evening. Jerry has spent many hours in this courtroom and told of many cases that he experi­enced , both sad and amusing.

After a very interesting program, members and guests were served a catered buffet on the lawn of the Court­house.

Rosemary Clabo, Secretary

LOST, BUT NOW FOUND By Diane S. Mooney

I'm not sure most of you can relate to the continu­ous, massive list of household projects that usually stay on the "back burner" longer than we ever expect. Well, Dennis and I finally decided to progress with plans for our storage building behind our home. The first prob­lem; we felt we should try to determine where the sol­diers on our property are buried. We have documenta­tion from Col. Thomas Spencer stating that when he visited the area around 1920 there were still visible wooden head markers on the graves directly behind the Clayton house. He even named one as being a Patton who was injured during the battle and died several days later. There must have been names scratched on most of the markers, for he had a memorial marker placed in front of our home stating that the burials were Confed­erates. As time went by, the original wooden markers were no longer present. Not knowing how to verify the location of the graves, as Spencer's letters to us did not give specifics, we kept putting off our barn project.

During this same time span, we became involved with the local Etowah Valley Historical Society. Since

Memorial marker erected by Col. Thomas Spencer.

joiningtheEVHS, wehavemetmanyincrediblepeople. Some of the members knew of our interest in locating

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Lost, but now found Continued

the sites and told us of a gentleman who was in the pro­cess of surveying possible grave sites at the early settle­ment of Etowah, which is located on Corps ofEngineers property. Getting excited, I felt if the Corps had confi­dence in his methods, it surely wouldn't hurt to contact this man. Mr. Carl Etheridge has certainly turned out to

Past excavation by Carl Etheridge, behind the Mooney home.

be one of those incredible people. He has extensive interest in early se_ttlements_, Indian cultur_es,_Civil War studies and has on his own time helped us determine the location of our twenty-one unknown Confederates. Other than scraping, digging and checking soil samples, Mr. Etheridge also uses a method some people call "divin­ing rods". However, he fails to believe that there is any­thing mystical in his findings. Just as some have located water or underground cables with this method, there is evidence of being able to locate grave sites with the rods also. Disturbed soil of graves seems to have a some­what different magnetic pull than that of other sources.

After discussing plans of how he would proceed; signing legal documents stating the purpose was solely to identify location and not removal of the graves, he was ready to begin. I had mentioned that I had always thought the sites were probably back ih the wooded area. Well, with rods in hand, Carl walked across the area and headed for the woods. He slowed about fifteen feet away from me. I thought to myself- Surely not! He continued to pick up definite rod movements in a patterned row time after time. He started flagging. I never realized they might be that close to the house, but with it being much more level land, it makes more sense. Still a little doubtful, I remembered as a child when my old horse

died and was buried in the area. I asked Mr. Etheridge if he thought he could find it. I remembered exactly where old Flame was buried and in about fifteen min­utes so did Mr. Etheridge! When you visit you will see old Flame's grave site flagged also. Carl had never visited our place before meeting us that day and had no way of knowing other than the rod method of finding that horse. My doubts vanished.

Wanting to have a more scientific backup, Carl began soil scrapings in these locations. Several soil samples were taken in and around the sites. Extremely high calcium levels were noted only within the flagged areas. Small bone fragments and period glass were found at levels that would have been close to burial depth. The bone fragments were tested by a state archeologist and were believed to be human fragments.

Mr. Etheridge spent many, many late evenings after work, weekends, and off days on this project. His full time job is with the Corps of Engineers as Ranger and Historian. I would like to say a tremendous thank you to Carl and to all of you special people who have previ­ously showed so much heartfelt interest in our homeplace and Allatoona Pass.

Ihis b_eing the L30th_year since t.he Battle of AllatoonaPass on October 5, 1864, I feel we have come a long way in our efforts to try to remember the time when so many of the Blue and the Gray lost their lives at Allatoona Pass. Let's let these efforts never die.

P.S. Oh, by the way, we never got back to our barn project. Anyone for an old-fashioned barn raising?

October 1st ceremony dedicating the graves of the 21 unknown soldiers.

A HISTORY OF OLD CASSVILLE 1833-1864

This book has been well received with well over 200 sold. Our Society owes a debt of gratitude to Dr. Joe Mahan, who allowed us to reprint this popular book. The book is available at a cost of $15.90 (including tax). It may be purchased at Parmenter, Langford and Watkins Insurance, 210 E. Main Street, Cartersville, or at the EVHS Office in the old Courthouse. It is also available by mail for an additional $3.00 postage and handling fee.

Joe Mahan shown discussing his book, A History Of Old Cassville. with Jodeen Brown at August 6th reception at The Epi5copal Church Of The Ascension.

August 7th reception at Cassville United Methodist Church, hosted by the Cassville Heritage Association.

Joe Mahan and his sister, Elizabeth Garrison, taking this oppor­tunity to jointly sign a copy of The History Of Pine Log United Methodist Church, written by them and donated to the society by Mrs. Garrison. Mr. Raymond Garrison looks on.

Additional scenes of August 7th reception.

CROSSROADS The Great Locomotive Chase is the newest docu­

mentary being shown. The show highlights the impor­tance of Bartow County to the Chase's outcome. This particular episode was produced and written by Guy Parmenter and was directed by Cheryl Coleman of Cable Channel 4. Chase expert, Joe Head, contributed to the production and shared his vast knowledge of the subject during interviews. This is the eleventh show produced to date for "CROSSROADS". We are looking forward to many more. Call.Guy or J.B. Tate if you have sug­gestions for future "CROSSROADS".

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

Mr. Tom Hall, Cartersville, GA Mr. & Mrs. James Henderson, Cartersville, GA Ms. Gulie Stiles Quantro, Cartersville, GA Mr. & Mrs. Anthony Roberts, Cartersville, GA Mr. & Mrs. Madison L. Rogers, Cartersville, GA

- VAUGHAN CABIN Construction of the Vaughan Cabin continues to proceed at Red Top. Completion is many months away; how­

ever, the end result will be well worth the wait. Assisting Red Top employees are volunteers from Georgia Power, AT&T and Atlanta Gas. Larry Gregory and Guy Parmenter have both participated in this project. If you would like to lend your talents to this project, give Guy a call. Good workers are always in demand.

ETOWAH VALLEY

HI8TOQICAL 80CIETY P.O. Box 1886

Cartersville, Georgia 30120

INSIDE: • Cartersville

Candlelight Christmas

• The Last of the

Pioneers, Mrs. T.S.

Hawkins .

• Lost, But Now

Found; Graves at the

Clayton House

... and much more!